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Published January 4, 2024, 2:05 am ET
A senior U.S. Education Department official resigned Wednesday, citing President Joe Biden's handling of the conflict in Gaza, the latest sign of dissent in the administration as the war's death toll continues to mount.
Also on Wednesday, 17 Biden re-election campaign staffers warned in an anonymous letter that Biden could lose voters over the issue.
Tariq Habash, special assistant in the Ministry of Education's Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, said in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona: “I cannot remain silent while this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities being committed against innocent Palestinian lives.” “What leading human rights experts call the Israeli government’s genocidal campaign.”
Habash, a Palestinian-American and student debt expert, was appointed early in Biden's presidency as part of an expansion of the Education Department's student loan authority.
The 17 anonymous Biden re-election campaign staffers urged Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza in their letter published on Medium.
Tariq Habash, special assistant in the Department of Education's Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, over Biden's handling of the conflict in Gaza. MSNBC 17 Anonymous Biden re-election campaign staffers have also urged the president to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. AFP via Getty Images
“The Biden for President staff has seen volunteers quit in droves, and people who have voted blue for decades are feeling unsure about doing so for the first time ever because of this conflict,” the staff wrote in the letter .
Stay up to date on news from the Israel-Hamas war and the global rise in anti-Semitism with The Post's Israel War Update, delivered straight to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Biden's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said earlier Wednesday that the U.S. had not observed any acts that would constitute genocide in Gaza.
A cloud of smoke rises over the town of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli airstrike on January 3, 2024. ZUMAPRESS.com A Palestinian helps another man across a field of rubble after an Israeli airstrike on buildings in the northern Gaza Strip town of Rafah October 17, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
His comments came in response to proceedings South Africa had initiated at the International Court of Justice over Israel's military operations in Gaza.
Israel has also rejected claims of genocide in Gaza.
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